For luxury marketers, it’s no news that a Gen Y following is critical for success. But new research from Digitas says that courting Millennials is even more important than most brands and retailers know, with Gen Y spending likely to beat Baby Boomers by 2017. “This is a generation in transition,” George Scribner, Digitas' SVP/account planning, tells Marketing Daily. He fills us in on the research -- which zeros on those ages 18 to 34, living in a household that earns over $100K in annual income -- and what makes these spenders different. Q: You’ve chosen five segments. Why zero in on young affluent consumers in this way?A: Four years ago, Gen Y really hit the cultural map with President Obama’s election, and marketers were suddenly thinking, 'Oh my God, they’re adults. Maybe they have money!’ By 2010, we had started our research on affluence in America, which looked at Gen Y as an emerging segment, very digital and very aspirational. But it didn't tell the whole story, and so we wanted to look closer, and see what holds true. And here’s what we know: For people of all generations, a household income of $200,000 is the dividing line. Those who earn more see themselves as having a comfortable, consistently affluent life. Q: Which segments of Gen Y are getting there fastest?A: Career is really the sole and most important determinant of who achieves affluence -- typically white-collar jobs, especially in health, legal and financial services, and breakout careers like real-estate and technology. And I love that we’ve made a full loop with technology. It’s what Gen Y likes to spend money on, but it is also a major means of acquiring wealth. Q: What would surprise marketers most?A: To some extent, I think it’s how income doesn’t always match spending. A group we call affluent and aspiring children spends between two and four times their own income, due to access to their parents’ wealth. These are people who are living at home with their parents, and likely to be pursuing what we call mission or passion careers -- often in the arts, entertainment or activism. They are likely only earning $20,000 to $30,000, so they are off marketers’ maps right now. Q: Aren’t they worried about spending so much more than they earn?A: They are spending more cautiously, and there is a sense of insecurity, and of living from paycheck to paycheck. But they are still healthy spenders, especially in luxury brands. Q: So how important is income in targeting Gen Y?A: It is important. But another important vector is age. The second wave of Gen Y is actually larger than the first. So this is a good time for marketers to focus on what they’re doing, and get it right. Q: What makes Millennials buy luxury products? A: They like authenticity, including "ever-cool" brands, like Ray-Ban and Levi’s. And nostalgia and a sense of history, shown in brands like Chanel and BMW. And they really like utility, like Hulu, Netflix or HBO on Demand.
In has been axiomatic that the growth in hybrid-vehicle sales, now a smidgen of the market, would be a slow curve upward. That may be too conservative an estimate. But the increases are tracking the growing number of hybrid and electric vehicles in the U.S. market, including new Toyota Prius variants, and soon hybrid versions of Ford Fusion, and Honda Accord, plus the Ford Fusion Energi plug-in and the Honda Accord Plug-in. Chicago-based market research firm Mintel says hybrid sales are up 73% this year, with 440,000 hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electrics sold. That would make this category of vehicles the fastest-growing in the U.S. this year. Within the segment, the fastest-growing category are compact hybrids, comprising 58.9% of the category total. And The Prius accounts for over 85% of compact hybrid sales, partly because of recovery from the tsunami last year, which affected production of Prius components, and because of the expansion of the lineup to include the v and c to 3.3% of total vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2013. Also, sales of plug-in and electric models have nearly quadrupled from three last year to 11 now in showrooms. Mintel also points out that the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Study says opinion of hybrids, electric and plug-ins is at an all-time high. Jesse Toprak, head of auto market analysis at TrueCar.com, tells Marketing Daily that greater intention to buy hybrid vehicles and electrics is a function of growing appeal to the masses, and shrinking price premium over the non-hybrid models. "If you look at vehicles like the Camry hybrid, the sticker price is actually the same as the non-hybrid," he says. "Manufacturers have been able to lower and eliminate that extra price." Even relatively expensive vehicles like Chevy Volt are a bargain in certain markets. "When you look at the math, if you live in L.A., and you commute less than 20 miles one way, I don't understand why you wouldn't buy. You can lease for under $300 a month. If I spend $350 a month on gas, I would have essentially a free car." Said Colin Bird, automotive analyst at Mintel: “New midsize hybrid models, such as the Toyota Prius v and Chevrolet Malibu Eco, have proven popular with consumers -- in particular families, who want to buy green without sacrificing other features that fit their lifestyles." He said that 34% of younger consumers ages 25-34 think that it is easy to make back the extra money spent on a hybrid car in savings at the pump. Mintel notes that it's not a bad thing to put these vehicles into rental fleets because it gives people a chance to test them out. Hertz, for instance, offers the Leaf, and Chevy Volt in specific markets. And Avis is offering the Volt at New York's LaGuardia Airport.
The Grammy Awards are nearly six weeks away, but it’s never too soon to begin promoting (and building buzz) for the event. The Recording Academy, which puts on the awards, has launched a social trivia game (running through Jan. 29) titled “Get Me to the Grammy’s,” that will award players with seven weekly prizes from each of the Grammy’s six participating partners (Delta Airlines, Harman, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Hitlab, MasterCard and Procter & Gamble). The grand prize will feature two tickets to the award show on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles. “This particular promotion came up as a result of a Grammy partner summit we had earlier this year,” Evan Greene, chief marketing officer of The Recording Academy, tells Marketing Daily. “A lot of them had expressed interest in working together to enhance their social input to interact with the Grammy’s and each other.” The games will involve Grammy trivia, and games such as completing song lyrics or participating in a scavenger hunt (with participants earning points based on their interactions on Facebook pages), were designed to foster social media chatter and increase buzz before the awards show. “For us, it’s all about adding to the social conversation, and it’s all about finding new and different and innovative ways to engage with our audience,” Greene says. “[As] we create a level of increased excitement, that will amplify as we get closer to the telecast … The more they talk about it and share about the Grammys, the more it creates excitement and interest in the telecast.” The Recording Academy will promote the game through its social media channels, including Facebook and Twitter, and it will also be promoted through the partners' social media outlets, he says. “If we’re successful with this thing, we can [use] partners in each of those areas, and we’ll get concentric circles of influence,” Greene says. “That’s where the real engagement starts, when multiple groups of people are all talking about us.”
There is still opportunity for companies to improve their content marketing strategies to drive deeper engagement with customers, according to a multi-industry survey undertaken by IMN. The survey revealed that while content marketing is important to businesses across industries (including automotive, direct selling, franchise, financial services and insurance), companies still have inroads to make. Regardless of industry, finding and sourcing relevant content and internal resource constraints were the top two roadblocks to successful content marketing programs. The credit union (33%) and direct selling (31%) sectors had the highest number of respondents replying that their organizations have a formal content marketing strategy in place. The financial services (75%), insurance (50%) and software (50%) industries are the most advanced when it comes to having separate content marketing strategies for each channel. The automotive (14%) and banking sectors (14%) were the least likely to have separate strategies in place. Financial services (50%), insurance (50%), software (50%) and banking (43%) industries had the highest percentages responding that they do have content marketing editorial calendars in place. The insurance (50%), credit union (33%), financial services (33%), banking (29%) and automotive (19%) sectors are concerned about the regulatory compliance of the content they distribute. According to the results, 78% of respondents indicated that content marketing was either a medium or a high priority, while 52% did not have a separate content marketing strategy in place for each channel it distributes content through. A full 32% of respondents had a content marketing calendar in place to track the topics that would be covered, when and by whom. Across industries, Web sites, newsletters and social media consistently ranked as the most effective content marketing vehicles, except for the financial services and software sectors, which did not list social media at all (email campaigns completed each of their top three). Also, respondents from the insurance industry ranked video higher than social media. Open-rate metrics for email blasts is the most popular form of content marketing program measurement for the automotive, banking, financial services and insurance industries. For franchises, software firms and direct selling organizations, the number of incoming leads was most popular. Revenue increases were the most frequent type of measurement used by credit unions.
In a bid to position itself as a one-stop solution for holiday dilemmas, Walgreens is running new national ads that give a seasonal twist to its “At the Corner of Happy & Healthy” campaign. One spot features a couple in a car, throwing together last-minute edible snowmen for a party; another shows a little boy dazzling both a classmate and a teacher with his thoughtfulness; another shows off a novel use for holiday portraits. And one spot is devoted to its new magazine: Happy & Healthy, Your Guide to Living Well with Walgreens. The new publication, which will be available digitally as well as in print, will features coupons and promotions, as well as health stories and product news. The ads, via GSD&M in Austin, broke earlier this month, and are a continuation of the “At the Corner of Happy & Healthy” campaign introduced this summer. And spots focusing on its photo gifts are rolling out now. Among the choices are canvas prints and photo books that can be ordered online or with a mobile app, with same day pickup service. Separately, the Deerfield, Ill.-based retailer says a switch to private electronic donations at checkout has generated more than $17 million in gifts in the last two months, with proceeds going to charities for cancer, diabetes and disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The change, made in October, allows customers at any of its Walgreens or Duane Reade locations to make contributions in increments of $1, $2, $5 or $10 to their purchase amount. In the past, the retailer says, team members asked customers if they wanted to donate.
Sales of CPG breakfast foods remained markedly strong throughout the recession, and consumers’ hunger for tastier and healthier options should present ample opportunities to keep them rolling, according to a new report from Mintel. The category’s sales grew by 20% between 2007 and 2011, from $10 billion to $12 billion, and are projected to grow by another 26% between 2012 and 2017, to reach $15.7 billion. At-home breakfast foods’ cost and convenience advantages have helped drive the category. However, perceptions about taste and quality may be holding back some growth. Fully 57% of consumers who eat any breakfast foods during the week say that they would be willing to spend more on better-quality prepackaged breakfast foods, shows Mintel’s consumer research. While 87% of consumers report eating breakfast at home during a typical week, on weekends, 30% report eating the meal out, versus 11% who report eating it at home. Moreover, 53% of respondents say that breakfast foods served at restaurants taste better than the options available in grocery stores, and 48% say that they’d like to see more restaurant-style options in grocery stores. “While a frugal mindset is keeping many people from regularly eating out, aggressive breakfast offerings at restaurants have been attracting many customers” -- making restaurants a significant, continuing competitive threat for food manufacturers and retailers, points out Mintel food analyst Carla Dobre-Chastain. Conclusion: CPG makers and retailers will need to “strike a balance between price and quality” in order to stay at the top of the market, she says. Continuing to innovate healthier yet tasty options is also critical for breakfast-food makers. More than two-thirds (69%) of respondents who eat any breakfast foods during the week consider low cholesterol or “heart-healthy” claims to be important in selecting their typical breakfast foods, and 65% consider low-fat and high-fiber claims to be important criteria. In addition, 41% would like to see more organic prepackaged breakfast products. The demand for healthier options is most pronounced in regard to highly popular breakfast foods that aren’t necessarily traditionally equated with being the healthiest choices. Forty-five percent of respondents report eating pancakes for breakfast, 40% frozen waffles and 33% packaged sausages -- and 52%, 48% and 37% of total respondents report that they would like to see healthier waffle, pancake mix and sausage options, respectively, in stores. "Breakfast of Pancakes and Sausages photo from Shutterstock"
Infiniti is changing its coat of arms. The luxury division of Nissan Motor is dispensing with "M", "G" and "FX" and the numerical engine-displacement signifiers that follow. Now, the names of all Infiniti cars, worldwide, will start with "Q" and SUVs with "QX". There will be numbers following the letter, but they will denote the model's place in the Goldilocks hierarchy: by size and prestige. Think Audi A4, A5, A7, and A8. Same drill for BMW. The first model will be the Q50, an all-new premium sports sedan to be unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month. Johan de Nysschen, president of Infiniti Motor Company Limited, who traveled with the brand from global headquarters in Japan to Hong Kong, said in a Monday evening press conference that the change helps clear up a car's place in the lineup. He also said the current horsepower nomenclature will be a problem going forward because those numbers would get smaller or even become irrelevant as Infiniti continues its shift to new, fuel-efficient engine tech. De Nysschen also pointed out that as Infiniti is about to expand the line both up-market and down, a ranking badge is mandatory. "Until now, we have been U.S.-centric, and the time has come to take our business global, and look at the brand from that vantage point," he said. "If we look at strategy today and apply to future products in the pipeline, one discovers that you run out of a suitable range of alpha-numeric combinations [with the current system]. And we are … entering markets where the brand is not as well known. So we wanted to follow nomenclature philosophy that's easy to understand." As for acceptance in the U.S., where the current naming system is known, he said that Infiniti's research shows 63% of customers had a "very positive reaction," and only 17% bemoaned the loss of G or M. "That is something we can manage." The rollout begins next year, starting with the Q50, with on-sale date coinciding with the traditional model year switchover, when inventories of late model cars are relatively low. De Nysschen explained that the timing reduces as much as possible consumer confusion at the showroom, when old badges are side by side with new.
Last week at MadBlog, my “Best Spots of the Year” column ended with a mention of empty chairs. Yup -- I suggested that the year’s winningest commercial, Chrysler’s “Half-Time in America,” inadvertently led Clint Eastwood to commit his unhinged monologue involving an innocent seating unit at the 2012 Republican National Convention. Here in part deux, my nominee for worst spot of the year also comes from powerhouse agency Wieden + Kennedy, and also involves -- wait for it -- empty chairs! Given that everything W+K produces is sophisticated and beautiful in some way, my contender for worst is hardly as ugly, screeching, or annoying as your typical late-night, low-budget spot. (Yes, Miracle Bra, I’m talking about you.) No -- this is another stratosphere of bad, entirely. It’s highest-form-of-propaganda bad, drink-your-own-Kool-Aid, worst-form-of-humblebragging bad. Indeed, who could have predicted that when launching its first-ever TV commercial, Facebook could achieve such fall-flat-on-its-face badness? In trying to be humble, it comes off as obtuse and arrogant. A little background: In the beginning, before tech platforms were our leading brands, they tended to eschew television advertising like the plague. Indeed, the idea of a “broadcast” was seen as a remnant of the Dark Ages, soon to be replaced by everything digital. Then, a few years back, Google ran a spot on the Super Bowl, of all places, and hell didn’t freeze over. Rather, the company got raves. The commercial was modest, charming, and entirely rooted in the brand. It never strayed from being a simple product demo. By showing some simple search terms being typed into a Google window, it cleverly conveyed the arc of a love story -- from first meeting to buying baby equipment. The genius was in suggesting a full-blown human journey in a few keystrokes. Now, of course, tech platforms have become major TV advertisers. And after a troubling IPO, Facebook released its first TV spot in October, to “honor” its one billion users. The result, “The Things that Connect Us,” is a 90-second commercial created very much in the classic Wieden style, an artfully designed manifesto with a poetic voiceover and haunting music. The director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, delivers visuals that crackle with magical realism. There’s unexpected beauty in every frame. The message, however, is a real head-scratcher, especially for any of the billion or so regular users of Facebook. It’s always fun to look over your shoulder at someone’s profile -- after all, Facebook is a service for voyeurs. But nothing in the spot is recognizable. Rather, it features an almost entirely analog world, with a female announcer likening Facebook to various inanimate objects. "Chairs,” she says. “Anyone can sit on a chair, and if the chair is large enough, they can sit down together and tell jokes or make up stories or just listen. Chairs are for people, and that’s why chairs are like Facebook." Sadly, this is not a parody from The Onion. (Although the spot immediately fostered a ton of parodies, including one that graphically substituted “toilets” for chairs.) The announcer goes on to say Facebook is also like an “airplane,” a “dance floor,” and “basketball.” Also like a “doorbell.” Why not sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles? Watching brings on a case of cognitive dissonance. It’s like an exercise for ad students, taken to the most ridiculous limits of meaninglessness. Or perhaps it’s the kind of treatise only a prodigious stoner could muster, or love. Okay, I do get it -- the spot celebrates Facebook's ability to serve as a forum, a gathering place, a source of new ideas and shared joy of discovery. But its out-there analogies and aggressive pre-techiness are not only disingenuous, but the antithesis of what people want to hear about Facebook. Are the creatives trying to show some morally pure agrarian society, where there is no technology? We see people reading newspapers (accent on paper) and clothbound books. Kids play in the street. The only phone shown is a “Mad Men”-era desk number with a rotary dial! What’s the point of all this? Pepperidge Farm remembers? Suggesting nostalgia for a time before we had to worry about privacy issues and getting our personal information sold off to the highest bidder? This spot builds to a truly woo-woo statement about how we are not alone in the universe. Indeed, in the spot, children play face to face. But the reality of Facebook is that it offers the illusion of connectedness to those who are indeed alone. Really, have you ever gotten an invitation to “come over and Facebook”? The chair thing seems like an immense cover-up. Why doesn’t the spot show the site, and some of the employees behind it, or how users have successfully championed social causes through it? Or tell us what’s in the works? At the very least, it could acknowledge how people really use Facebook: by accessing it through their smartphones or tapping away at their laptops. Instead, this is infuriatingly non-transparent. How indifferent can the company be to a loyal user’s intelligence? It makes me want to talk -- or not just talk, work up a tirade -- at a chair.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a sleigh somewhere, chances are you’ve noticed the annual gathering of sloppy Saint Nicks otherwise known as SantaCon. At first glance, it’s simply a raucous day of naughty carols, random gifting and extreme silliness. But dig a bit deeper, and you’ll find a near-perfect metaphor for the state of social media. A global (and subversive) phenomenon Possibly started by subversive artists in Copenhagen way back in 1974, SantaCon has since expanded to 37 countries and 270 locations. Social media is even more ubiquitous, touching just about every country around the globe -- and perhaps just as subversive, playing a part in protests in at least 5 countries via Twitter. Emphasis on crowd size Often referred to as a bawdy flash mob, SantaCon is all about getting together with thousands of your so-called “friends” as per the credo “the more, the merrier.” Similarly, there is an emphasis among some ambitious social marketers to grow their social footprints without regard for the quality of the fans or levels of engagement. All about the pictures A quick search for the hashtag #SantaCon on Instagram reveals over 43,000 photos from last Saturday’s gathering. With social media, pictures are playing an even more prominent role, increasing engagement on Facebook and Twitter, and of course, driving the success of newer platforms like Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram. No one is in charge SantaCon is a totally grassroots affair, taking different forms in different cities on different dates and even having alternate names like Santapalooza and Santarchy. Social media at its best is equally free-form, with consumers driving content development, platform choice and desired interaction with brands. Mobile SantaCon revelers rarely stay in one place on the big day, making for an ever-morphing, highly mobile parade. And so it is with social media, as smartphones and tablets become the dominant means of consuming and contributing social content. Recognizing this shift, jolly marketers will want to jump on the mobile bandwagon. A whole lot of fun At its best, SantaCon is a day of harmless fun in which red-suited revelers share good cheer with strangers and friends alike. Similarly, social media is an opportunity for marketers to have fun, engage with their fans, align with their passions and remind us all that people ultimately choose to do business with people they like. It can get sloppy At its worst, SantaCon is a day of out-of-control drunks that get banned from bars and end up being anything but nice. Social media shares this potential for sloppiness, as consumers feel free to rant about brands on Twitter and Facebook, write nasty reviews on TripAdvisor and even produce negative videos for YouTube. Not going away Despite cries from Gothamist to end SantaCon in NYC, this mistletoe-rich movement is clearly unstoppable. The gift is out of the bag, so to speak. For marketers, the “gift” of social media is potentially one that keeps on giving, creating the opportunity to turn detractors into proponents and fans into true advocates. And you don’t even have to don a red suit! So ho ho ho! -- and happy holidays to you all.
There’s a reason why theatrical productions often begin off-Broadway. On Broadway, the lights shine with greater intensity and bring greater scrutiny, with critics who are often less forgiving. For the past few years, social and mobile media efforts have remained, in a sense, “off-Broadway.” However, these platforms have segued to the big stage and are beginning to garner a larger share of marketers’ budgets. Now, they too are finding the scrutiny to be more intense along with higher expectations of generating marketing results. The following chronicles a portion of these published “reviews” over the past nine months: In March, comScore found that 31% of online ads that were served were not in view -- and of the campaigns analyzed, 72% had at least some impressions that were delivered adjacent to objectionable content. In July: - Triton Digital found that consumers trust traditional media more than digital. Triton’s VP of Business Strategy Jim Kerr said: “While digital media continues to explode in popularity and affect traditional media usage, the underlying trust of consumers toward digital compared to traditional media are not yet equal. Similarly, traditional media advertising continues to prove effective and more likely to influence purchase decisions than digital ads.” - The 2012 Digital and Social Media Survey conducted by the Association of National Advertisers cited the measurement of ROI as the top social marketing challenge. - Ted McConnell, executive VP of digital for the Advertising Research Foundation, published an Ad Age article that illustrated how a blank display ad notched twice the click-through rate of a branded one and better click-through than the average Facebook ad. - Hipcricket conducted a study in which 43% of the respondents indicated that a lack of relevance is the top reason that smartphone owners have never engaged with mobile ads. - Facebook’s Head of Measurement and Insight Brad Smallwood stated that ads running on Facebook can take up to a year to generate results. In August, 3MS, a cross-industry coalition called for a new viewability metric that would only count a digital ad as “viewable” when 50% of the ad is in view for at least one second. Fewer than half of online ads met that standard. In September: - AdSafe Media found that less than half of ads that passed through its system were actually viewable. - Trademob concluded that 40% of mobile ad clicks worldwide were essentially “useless.” Twenty-two percent resulted from accidental clicks, 10% from botnets and client-side fraud, and 8% from to server-side fraud. In October, Edelman Berland, the global market research and strategic consulting arm of the world's largest public relations firm, published a study called “Click Here: The State of Online Advertising.” It showed that only 3% of respondents identified social media as the medium in which U.S. Internet users prefer seeing ads. In November: - Social media drove less than 1% of total online sales and traffic on Black Friday, according to IBM Smarter Commerce metrics, which tracks sales for 500 of the top retail sites. Only two-thirds of 1% of Black Friday online sales came from Facebook referrals. Twitter’s contribution was gauged as zero. - Millward Brown released their AdReaction 2012 Report detailing smart device owners’ attitudes toward advertising by medium. Radio tied for #1 with TV, with 51% of global smartphone and tablet owners reporting a very or somewhat favorable attitude toward radio and TV ads, more than doubling mobile ads (23%) and close to twice that of social media ads (32%). - A Forbes Insights study called “The New Rules of Engagement: Measuring the Power of Social Currency" found that marketers view consumers’ proactivity via social media as dramatically more engaging then consumers do, and that marketers’ attempts at personalization and customization engage few consumers. - Harris Interactive for MediaBrix found that a majority of respondents felt “native” digital ads negatively impacted or had no impact on their perception of the brand being advertised. The study also found that 45% of the promoted tweets were judged as misleading, while 57% and 86% said the same about Facebook-sponsored stories and video ads, respectively. In 2013, it will be wise to keep firmly in mind that the perfect medium has yet to be created. Despite all of the headlines about the latest digital platforms, a balanced approach of legacy and digital media will likely produce the best results. Broadway’s bright lights can be hot. Traditional media have survived this spotlight and scrutiny for decades. It’s now time for a few of the newer digital options to do the same.